Season 1 Australian Grand Prix
The Season 1 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula D motor race that was the opening round of the Season 1 Championship. The race was held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in the Melbourne suburb of Albert Park. It was the first race in the history of the Formula D World Championship. The race was won by Mic McJergens with Clint Hurdle coming in second. Report Background Following the successful pre-season test, all teams were given permission to enter the Formula D World Championship. However, this race would be the first time that the cars would be out on track for a total of three laps. There were some concerns that three laps might be too much for the cars, but the teams were confident that no major problems would arise. Tire supplier Latic warned drivers to use caution as the tires were still untested in full race condition. Pre-season testing had shown the tires may be fragile thorugh high speed corners, though not to a dangerous level. Latic urged conservative use for this first race. Qualifying During the qualifying session, Darren Richardson set the fastest time, taking an excellent line through the quick left-right turn in sector 2. Mic McJergens was in second, beating out third place Mikhail Volkov by just under .2 seconds. Fourth place went to Clint Hurdle, which Wright FD attributed to low downforce causing understeer through sector 3. Race Before the race, each team issued their official list of setup changes. Only Nergal GP Racing and Wright FD modified their base setup, with Nergal strenghtening their brakes at the expense of their chassis and Wright reducing braking strength to make their tires last longer. Additionally, Nergal was the only car to start the race on Primes. At the start of the race, both cars with the Koenig engines stalled on the starting line, allowing McJergens to pull ahead of Richardson and build a small gap. He was unable to maintain the lead for long due to his tire choice, and Richardson took the lead by the midpoint of the lap. Throughout turns 4 and 5, the cars started to cluster together, and Richardson took some body damage before pulling away into the lead again. However, as the racers clumped up again in the final turn complex, McJergens and Richardson made contact while the Nergal driver pushed for the lead. Richardson ended up in the gravel with severe body damage and had to retire from the race permanently. At the start of the second lap, McJergens pitted for a new set of Primes and repaired his gearbox. Hurdle pitted as well, going for some new Options. Hurdle pulled out into the lead ahead of both McJergens and Volkov, who did not pit at the start of this lap and was thus able to make up some ground. McJergens and Volkov spent most of the second lap duking it out for second place, but no additional body contact occurred between any of the drivers on track. At the conclusion of the lap, all three cars had to pit for their second tire compound, with Hurdle and Volkov finally migrating to the Primes and McJergens switching onto Options. As the third lap commenced, McJergens pulled ahead of Volkov in sector one, but Hurdle still maintained a respectable gap. However, McJergens closed this gap in sector 2, and Hurdle and McJergens jockeyed for position throughout the final turn complex. They continually took turns passing and repassing each other before exiting the last turn side by side. McJergens took advantage of his softer tires and pulled ahead very slightly, allowing him to cross the finish line a fraction of a second ahead of Hurdle. Hurdle took second place, and Volkov rounded the final turn not long afterwards in third. Classification Qualifying Race Championship Standings After the Race Category:Races